The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1887-07-29
ILoKsON GOUNIT AsgEsaNENrl-

real estate assessments this We.
We are almost sorry We IroWis'
IL, % the showing is q great de
worse than ne expected 10 1nd
Bat Sc believe mary Of our oitaEos
will thank Ms for ~. Even tho
who are guilty would Hike VeT
much, no doubt, If it YER 80 q
ranged that they could give a bette
valuation without materially il
D creaNiBg their taxes, aud that
, just What We are driving at. W
want simply an equal distributiO
Of the harden OF taxation, whic
can only be accomplished BY fai
J assessments
Jackson county 10 said to contain
an are Of $50 square miles, o
563,2OO acres. Inexaminiug the as
sessnent rolls We have simply takeI
one range Ghich contains about
one.fnh of all the u~nimproved
lands of the county, or say 100000
acres. We 6Dd in this range no
81 near 5000 acres OF lands valued
at Is cents per acre, and oSer 10000
at 10 cents per acre, while no incoH.
siderable amount is valued ut less
tAan % cents, and as low as Scents.
Now, we will leave 1t with purchas-
era to ascertain whether they can
get these lands at such prices.
From Q knowledge of the prices
Of our lands we would not iusnre
10000 acres of land out OF this
range at 25 cents per acre for a
premium Of 80 per cent, with all
the FIVE and ten cent. land to get 1t
from. But that is not the worst of
it. Many of the more conscientious
of this same section Of the county
vslne the same quality of lands at
from 90 cents to S1.0O and CLIPS per
acre, and hence pay on the same
quantity Of land from two to FIVE
the amount of taxes. There
Is where the damage comes in,
ont oftbe questionable moral
Of erroneous assessments,
which ia quite a large thing itself.
1t is easy enough to see how this
'tste of affairs Ia brought about.
Take a county where property ia
assessed and say the rate of
taxation for the county expenses is
'our mills. Then make a horizontal
of 81 per cent. in valna-
ion and to raise the same money
he rate would necessarily be raised
o eight mills and the county tax
would be the same to every tax.
payer as before. Bot say instead
VI o horizontal reduction only one.
half the property is reduced 80 per
;ent. That would reduce the
'mount realized one.quarter, which
must be made up by Increase of the
ate in exact proportion to realize
The same amount. This increase
ialls, az the rain, on the just and
unjust alike. Hence, it Is to avoid
his injustice that many feel i'm.
to reduce rather than pay for
derelicliOn of duty and thus
ease their conscience. They feel
to violate the Law and do
! moral wrong to get justice.
VIZ did not take range 5 because
70 considered it worse than the bal.
nee OF the county. On the other
land we consider from a rough
!stImatc that it is about the best,
raving out the improved properties
t the Coast. We can't pass upon
be valuations Of improved proper.
les IN a general way, but from inves-
we feel satisfied that they
re valued about on the same basis I
) the unimprOved laDds, it not }
'wer in many cases. G
Now, we have the means by which q
remedy this great evil, and it is Q
the interest OF every citizen TO j
'e that it is made use of. The |
legislature of 1884 passed au act d
'Dstitpting the board of superb. q
RS of each county a board of
I~ualizers, and says: "And said d
Yards are hereby required to 20 f
lualize the valuation Of the pro- a
,rty OF their several counties, that {
lands and personal property {
their counties, of the b
value, shall be assessed at the o
price as nearly as practicable" e
iis is the nrSt assessment of real b
tate since that law was passed, a
ID it remains TO be seen how well ri
e board OF supervisors will per- o.
ru the duiy. It is hardly Proba.
E that any man has valued
5 property too high, aud hence Y
q hoard 0an aimofv roiea all Iands "